Extract

THE first and second editions of OED have an entry for a mysterious rip, ?v.3, which is given a combined etymology and definition: ‘Perh. ad. Du. rep, imper. of reppen to make haste, but the contexts are not decisive; it may be a mere exclamation, or a fig. use of RIP v.2' The citations are as follows:

1592NASHEFour Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 239 Wilt thou neuer leaue afflicting a dead Carcasse..? a wispe, a wispe, rippe, rippe, you kitchin-stuffe wrangler! 1600DEKKERShoemaker’s Holiday Dram. Wks. 1873 I. 29 Auaunt Kitchin-stuffe, rippe you browne bread tannikin; out of my sight. 1609R. ARMINMaids of More C3b, O well sung Nightingale, a boord a boord there, ha rip there.

The sense of rip which developed from Nashe to Armin has become apparent in the course of consultancy work commissioned in the course of the revision of OED, and because its story is too complex to be adequately presented in a dictionary entry, it is offered here.

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